Replying to Comments

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  1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
    DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years ago

    So, I've always thought it was the polite thing to do to reply to commenters, and thank them for their time and input, and I've made an effort to do so consistently.

    However, I'm wondering if this is now being discouraged by HP, as there is no available comment box for replies on hubs that have been moved to niche sites...

    ???????

    1. AliciaC profile image94
      AliciaCposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I was confused by this at first, too, but when I've had the problem I've found that the comment box for a reply is located at the top of the list of comments instead of at the bottom under the most recent comment. When I've added my reply, the box jumps down to the bottom.

      1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
        DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Hi, AliciaC.
        That is weird. It makes a distance between the comment to which you are replying, making you scroll back and forth to address their points, if need be.

        But thanks for that tip!

      2. vocalcoach profile image93
        vocalcoachposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks Alicia.  I've had this problem for all of my posts. Now, I know what to do.  smile

    2. kenneth avery profile image80
      kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      @Dzy,
      I felt the same way until I scrolled up to the top of my niche hubs.

    3. sallybea profile image94
      sallybeaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The comment box has been moved to the top, inconvenient it is too.

      1. wilderness profile image94
        wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Agreed - it is most inconvenient.  I get many complex questions that often require that I scroll back and forth between my answer and the comment.  When there are 50+ comments it's a real pain.

        1. Sue Adams profile image95
          Sue Adamsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          Set your comments to show "most recent first", or monitor your comments via stats page. Problem solved.

        2. Glenn Stok profile image96
          Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          You're doing it the difficult way. I explained how to moderate and reply to ALL comments in all your hubs from one place with no scrolling around required. See my prior post in this thread at http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2864945

          1. wilderness profile image94
            wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Did one this morning that way, that HP had classified as spam.  But there was no option to reply to it - had to go to the hub to do that. 

            Comments that they have not hidden might work, though.

            1. Glenn Stok profile image96
              Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

              You can't reply to spam comments. If you decide it's not spam you need to change it to "approved." Then the reply field will become available. You don't need to go to the hub to do it.

    4. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Although the layout has been explained, the fact is that yes, HubPages discourages replies for the sake of politeness.

      HubPages has said it wants meaningful comments which are relevant to the topic of the Hub.  Irrelevant comments dilute the content of the Hub and may affect its Google rank.

      Comments which simply compliment the Hubber, and replies that merely thank the commenter, are clearly not relevant to the topic and are therefore undesirable.  In fact, if they are very short, the HubPages filter will delete them.

      1. UnnamedHarald profile image94
        UnnamedHaraldposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        What Marissa said. I try to be polite and thank the commenter, but only if I can expand on something they may have mentioned in their comment or some aspect of my article. In this way, I can be polite and add value.

        1. kenneth avery profile image80
          kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          @unnamedHarald,
          That is me also. Now if the person commenting were to ask an irrelevant question, I simply tell them I do not know and thank them for stopping by. I am not going to intentionally hurt ANYONE for taking time to read
          and leave a comment.
          I have though, to be truthful, deleted some rather vulgar comments that were put there by people who had Zero hubs and Zero followers and claimed to follow me, but I deleted that too.
          As the famous band, The Guess Who sang . . ."no time left for you . . ."

      2. kenneth avery profile image80
        kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        @Marisa,
        Thanks for the New Information. In the five-years that I have been on HP, NO ONE has ever mentioned any information, instructions about commenting on hubs to me whatsoever.
        Thanks.

        1. Marisa Wright profile image87
          Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          I don't see why they would have. I'm sure there are many other rules which no one has mentioned directly to you, either.   All the information is in the Learning Center and it's up to us to go looking for it.   

          That's the big limitation of the Learning Center. It's so huge now, and there isn't really anywhere you can go and look at a simple summary.  Most of us pick things up as we go along, from forum discussions.  It sounds like you haven't been involved in a forum discussion about comments and that's not unusual, we all miss things.

          1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
            DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            To say the learning center is 'huge' at this point is a world-class understatement.

            There isn't a good index; it's not intuitive to search for the information you want, and it ends up being a time-suck instead of helpful.  I think that's why many people ask here in the forums when they want information.

            1. Marisa Wright profile image87
              Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

              Exactly

    5. charm_baker profile image55
      charm_bakerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Well, I guess I don't have anything to worry about when replying.  I never simply say "good job" or something so generic and then leave.  My problem is, I end up saying too much, usually just to expound on a particular point in the post.  I've been trying to work on shorter comments. LOL

      1. Marisa Wright profile image87
        Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Ah, but if you are expounding a point, which is relevant to the topic in hand, then your long comment is likely to be very welcome!   Assuming you're being polite and reasonable, of course.

        1. charm_baker profile image55
          charm_bakerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          Hi Marisa - I try to be and thus far no one has complained (to my knowledge :-)
          Wow! Look how short this one was.  I'm getting better.

          1. Marisa Wright profile image87
            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Ah, but this is on the forums.  We're talking about comments on Hubs.

            1. kenneth avery profile image80
              kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

              @ Marisa,
              I want to ask just one short question: So do I "reply to the complimentary comments left on my hubs or not? In my case, I do not get as many comments as you do and that is not a slam either. In short, I am glad to get the comments that I do get. Yes or no?

              1. Marisa Wright profile image87
                Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                I believe HubPages response would be to say no, you should not respond to a complimentary comment.  The complimentary comment probably isn't relevant to the topic of the Hub, and your reply won't be either, so they could be detrimental to the Hub.

                If I do get a comment from another Hubber, I don't reply to it on my Hub unless they have asked a question that needs an answer.  Instead, I go and find one of THEIR Hubs where I can leave a meaningful comment about their topic. If it's a meaningful comment then it adds value to their Hub and that, to me, is more worthwhile (and equal) repayment than a feeble "thank you" comment on my own Hub.

                1. vocalcoach profile image93
                  vocalcoachposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for this info Marisa!

  2. Sue Adams profile image95
    Sue Adamsposted 7 years ago

    If you set the comments to show latest first, which is my preferred setting, it is much better this way. Previously, I always had to scroll down to find the response box by which time I had forgotten what the commenter's name was or what he/she had to say.

    1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
      DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Good idea!  Thanks!

      1. kenneth avery profile image80
        kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        @ Sue, thanks from this old man also!

  3. profile image0
    threekeysposted 7 years ago

    Im not sure whether to make comments or not a lot of the time. As I feel most times comprehensive answers/responses have been made and there's nothing left to add or respond to. Or, someone has a perspective that flips my thinking upside that Im left speechless while I work at understanding what has been expressed. So please if I falter to not reply or comment, I am not forgetting you or being rude.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The whole issue of comments is so contentious, I wrote a Hub about it (it's called HubPages Etiquette).

      Broadly, there are two types of Hubbers - the social ones and the business ones. 

      The business Hubbers don't have time to socialise on HubPages. They provide a Comments section on their Hubs so that people interested in the topic can ask questions or express an opinion, not to invite compliments.

      Social Hubbers, as their name indicates, spend a lot of time socialising - some on the forums, but many do it by carrying on conversations on each other's Hubs. In that situation, acknowledging comments becomes an important part of the mix.

      This used to cause some heated arguments on the forum, with some social Hubbers claiming it was completely unacceptable if someone didn't post a thank-you comment for each individual comment on their Hubs.  Then HubPages announced they would be deleting "Great Hub" or "Thank you" comments as low quality, and that killed the argument, at least up till now.

      1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
        DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Okay, then. I guess I will shift my reply priorities, and not bother with "polite thank-you's," but only respond to a comment offering another angle or additional information, to which I can also add.

        As for those who want to come in and write a diatribe about why they don't agree, and everything I said is wrong in their opinion, I will no longer engage with them, and simply delete such comments as a waste of time.

        (I'm sort of a goofy mix between business and social...LOL)

  4. Glenn Stok profile image96
    Glenn Stokposted 7 years ago

    There are two things being discussed here on the topic of responding to comments. Marisa already gave a perfect answer about the Google ranking issue of comments that don't add value, so I'll just mention the solution to the other issue...

    Everyone talking about replying to comments in each hub and trying to find the comment field.  It's so much easier to moderate and reply to ALL comments in ALL hubs from one place — the Global Comments page. Just click on "My Account" and then select the  "Comments" tab. There you will see all comments nomatter what hub they are in. You can approve or deny them all from that one place and reply without ever going to each individual hub.

    1. DzyMsLizzy profile image86
      DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I just found that, and it is easier.  In fact, I did just reply to a comment, and I believe both the comment and my reply add to the article, as both were relevant to the topic.

      1. sallybea profile image94
        sallybeaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        I just had one comment which had already been pre-approved by HubPages!  Fortunately, I discovered that I could still reply as it was a direct query about the subject matter but what is up with this?

    2. charm_baker profile image55
      charm_bakerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      WTF!  Awesome.  That's one of the reasons I've been so bad about responding in the past.  I find it tedious trying to flip flop between hubs.  This is great to know.  Thanks.

      1. vocalcoach profile image93
        vocalcoachposted 7 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks for this helpful information.

  5. Dan W Miller profile image73
    Dan W Millerposted 7 years ago

    I LOVE my mentors and I had so much help from so many of them. They had faith in my writing because my forums on HubPages criteria and guidelines and I riled people up.  I was SO raw and I owe a lot to them for receiving a Popular Accolade. I'm just not on the site enough.

  6. Dan W Miller profile image73
    Dan W Millerposted 7 years ago

    My mentors were and are awesome. I would ask in general and many of the responses were by HubPages Award winners. I have had some pretty involved discussions on site policy and guidelines.
    Very nice knowledgable people.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think that's how most of us learn here!  But it does mean that we all have gaps in our knowledge here and there at times.

 
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